Allen West: Country Is at "DEFCON 1"; Offers to Run the House of Representatives by Himself

More than 80 U.S. lawmakers are headed to Israel during Congress' vacation, but Rep. Allen West said yesterday he's more than ready to come back to the House floor and run the place by himself.

Both chambers of Congress are in recess until September 5, which hasn't been sitting too well with several political action committees, newspaper columnists, citizens, and even a couple of congressmen -- now including West.

In an interview with Fox News' Greta Van Susteren yesterday, West said he thinks the country is at "DEFCON 1" -- the highest level in the military's alert system, which reached "DEFCON 3" on 9/11 and "DEFCON 2" during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

"I am here as a member of the United States House of Representatives, and we have a serious situation here in our country," West said in the interview. "And when I was an officer in the military, we had what was called 'DEFCON 1' -- defense condition one. That means all leaves and all
passes were canceled and it was all hands on deck. And I think that
we're at that point in time right now."

West has been planning to go on the lobbyist-funded trip to Israel led by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor but changed his tone a bit after being asked about it by Van Susteren.

"Well, come on back. Why don't you come back? You can come back alone," she said.

West said he'd "be happy to."

"I mean, I believe that sometimes, you do have to stand alone, and maybe
that's something I would have to come back and do, and I'd be more than
willing to do that," he said. "And I think that the constituents down here in CD-22
would understand me doing that, and possibly others will follow suit."

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